It's the only way to get published! This is how I'm getting where I'm going.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Acceptance: Cave Canem

After three applications (1, 2, the charm) I was accepted to Cave Canem. That's the most exciting poetry news I've gotten since getting into an MFA program. So I'll be headed to the University of Pittsburgh from June 20-27 for my first retreat. I don't know what to expect, which is exciting. For me, this serves as a testament to the reason I started this blog--to force myself to keep submitting through all the rejection. This time it paid off.

Another goal I have as far as submitting is to qualify to apply for an NEA grant once I graduate from my MFA program. Here's what that takes:

You are eligible to apply in Poetry if, between January 1, 2003, and March 4, 2010, you have had published:

•A volume of 48 or more pages of poetry; or•Twenty or more different poems or pages of poetry in five or more literary journals, anthologies, or publications which regularly include poetry as a portion of their format. Up to 16 poems may be in a single volume of poetry of fewer than 48 pages. This volume, however, may count as only one of the required five places of publication.

Applicants may use online publications to establish up to fifty percent of their eligibility, provided that such publications have competitive selection processes and stated editorial policies.

I'm going to track the number of publications I get in the sidebar and how many are print and online. The NEA awards grants to poets every other year so the next application season will be in 2012 for the 2013 award year. So I've got 2 years to try to rack up some pubs. This goal will definitely keep me submitting!

So I have the sidebar setup now. I realize that my one print publication was in a journal that only publishes undergraduate students. So I think that fits into this:

The following may not be used to establish eligibility:•Student publications and publications which primarily print work by persons who are affiliated with a particular academic institution.

I'm talking about North Central Review. Here's the description: The North Central Review is one of only a handful of literary journals publishing exclusively the writings and works of undergraduate students.

JayTee, I totally want to copy your NEA idea. All of it. The sidebar and the project itself. Haha. You're really one of the only other people I know (or e-know, as you put it. haha) who submits as much as I do. And you're also the only person besides myself and Bianca who I've known to write a sonnet crown.

By the way, print publications are very hard to get into, because they're often college publications. This means that some don't accept submissions at all (they only request poems). And those that do accept submissions are being inundated by famous poets, and as I've said before, I don't care what anyone says, more often than not a bad poem by Billy Collins will beat out a good poem by a not-yet-famous-poet.

the NEA tracking is a great idea! I didn't end up applying this year because the website was giving me so much trouble. I was just so tired of the whole process! But after 4 years of submitting I easily had the credentials for it, even with needing the 50/50 split in print so I know you can do it!

And HUGE congrats on Cave Canem! I can't wait to hear more about it :)

Hello JayTee. I came across your blog while searching for Cave Canem information, experiences, etc. I was selected to attend the retreat this year; I am so excited! It's great to find a fellow "first-year fellow." I'm so impressed with your blog. Your organization/forethought to submit and track acceptances and rejections is infectious. I look forward to meeting you!

--Kat (I don't have a blog identity, but after reading your blog and robotto-mulato's, I am seriously thinking about it.)

About Me

I started this blog as an unpublished poet who was desperate to be published and to get into an MFA program. This blog is a record of my successes and failures.
So far, my poetry has been published in Vinyl, Conte, North Central Review, Diverse Voices Quarterly, Assisi, Muzzle, Milk Money, Poetry Quarterly, Sugar House Review, PANK, and Tidal Basin Review, Thethe Poetry, and TORCH. I am a recent graduate of University of Virginia's Creative Writing MFA program in poetry, as well as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Poetry at Drake University, and a Creative Writing Instructor for Duke TIP.